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Is Swearing Sexy?

If we had to generalize, we'd guess grandmothers would rather not hear us curse. Same goes for rabbis, pastors and parents with young, impressionable children in tow. But what about the men in our lives?

While the verdict didn't come out to a clear "sexy" or "scummy" consensus, most men agreed that swearing, when done poorly, is extremely unattractive on a woman. And, really, the same goes for men. A well-placed curse here or there can add humor or emphasis to a sentence, but, like salt, too much of it begets the appearance of bloat and indulgence.

While none of the men said hearing a woman curse was an absolute turn-off, a lot has to do with the delivery. As one respondent, The Experienced Guy, put it: "Not all people can curse equally. Some people are just better equipped for it -- kind of like guys wearing muscle shirts or girls bearing midriffs."

Guys did agree on one area where cursing is to be encouraged: talking dirty in the sack, it seems, is one area where the more sailor-like a woman's mouth gets, the better.

"Every guy likes to think he's so damn good in bed that a woman just can't contain herself," the Sensitive Guy explained.

A quick poll to the XYs in our office produced similarly mixed results. One mate finds cursing always unladylike and unimaginative, another tends to think hearing the late George Carlin's famous seven words from a woman is sexy, and the tenuous agreement seemed to be that swearing is most attractive when used in the right place at the right time.

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